No More Bitcoins From Circle Pay - Is Coinbase Now The Central U.S Bitcoin Exchange?
Circle Pay has announced that they will no longer buy or sell bitcoins as a part of their service. News from Coindesk.com explained that users can still use the Circle app, but if you want to buy bitcoin now, they refer you to Coinbase.
There was an official blog post by Circle Pay about the announcement. They seem to be introducing their own blockchain project known as "Spark"
We’re taking another major step forward today with the introduction of Spark, a set of protocol additions that provides a way for digital wallets to exchange value using blockchains, including Bitcoin, as settlement layers. There are many use cases for the technology, but the initial focus is on connecting digital wallets around the world while ensuring that full KYC/AML and compliance requirements can be met, and presenting a seamless experience that reflects local currency exchange rates and conversion rule contracts.
It was strange to see this change since there was an announcement a few months ago about Apple imessage adding support for Circle Pay app.
The thing that is concerning the most, is now it seems Coinbase is the main way to buy bitcoins in the U.S. now that Circle Pay decided to make their move. With the recent news about the IRS wanting information on the identities of their bitcoin customers. Supposedly, they are going to fight this but majority of us know that most likely they will hand them over quietly or let them "take a look." Regardless of the reason, this has made it seem rather a centralization in the U.S. on where it is one of the only exchanges U.S. residents can buy bitcoins from.
Breaking Free From The Traditional Banking System
When it comes to finance, economics and world issues, I am not an expert but I do know that U.S. regulations can have it's affect on other countries. Many of us see a failure in the current banking system globally such in places like Cyprus and even the infamous "Brexit."
The whole decentralized banking system was one of the aspects with blockchain technology and was to get away from traditional banking. It is getting to seem no different with what we do today and just like a bank account, to use Coinbase you need to provide photo id and other information for your identity and then you have an account with them. You can run your own wallet yourself but to obtain bitcoins other ways are not any means for an average person.
The Workaround Can Be Steemit
Without having to go through any exchanges or having it just Coinbase be the main place to get crypto-currency in the U.S. or elsewhere, Steemit can be another way or the best way to be able to break free from traditional banking.Bitcoin is looking to be the "old school" of crypto-currency in the future but I'm sure it will still be around. Steemit is making it simple for anyone to start breaking free and begin to "be their own banks" and grow the decentralized revolution.
It is free to start an account here on Steemit and there are many ways to get STEEM/SBD/SP. If we can bridge that gap and be able to directly buy STEEM/SBD rather than having to get bitcoins first to get large amounts. Blogging, mining, witnesses, etc. are other means to gain STEEM/SBD/SP but for the simple user, they just want to hand over cash or swipe a card.
If we can get to the point where people can see the value on this platform I think we can get fiat directly to STEEM/SBD/SP one day and in some ways it already had started.
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